
"If you tell the joke and you get the dead silence, you kind of have to act like it didn't happen," he said, laughing.

Nearly 20 years later, the jokes flow more easily, but the challenge to consistently reel in the laughs remains. He earned some applause and thought, "OK, that's how that job goes." Moments later, Williams said he was on stage talking "about being the entire black community in a small town - for five minutes," he said. Trying to avoid getting carded at a comedy club outside Tampa, Fla., he walked into the entrance marked for comics only. Williams got his first taste of the stand-up life at 16.

"Smoking, drinking, cussing, there are enough things that I do that I don't want my kids to do, but as parents you know your children will make the best decisions they can make," Williams said. He was equally frank when asked how he'd feel if his children shared his very public enthusiasm for marijuana. "It's the only way that I can do that honestly." "When you hear me talk about political issues, I'm not trying to encourage you to go one way or another," he said. Keeping it real, according to Williams, keeps him authentic. are we still doing in Iraq? Haven't we killed everybody?. He also touches on gas prices, bad mothers and politicians. "It's cool to get high, but it's not cool to get high and eat up all your baby's cereal," Williams quipped during his highly rated 2006 HBO special Pimp Chronicles Part I. He peppers his act with a blend of social commentary, simple silliness and the I-told-you-so wisdom of an elderly uncle. Williams' most celebrated jokes - some of which have drawn millions of views on YouTube - are crass, sarcastic jabs at the banalities of everyday life. His stand-up routines are plentiful with the usual testosterone-riddled humor -"Did we cross the no Ho line?" he asked incredulously during a bit about women who dance seductively at clubs but shy away from going any further. In very unpimplike style, Williams will return to Los Angeles after the tour to plan a summer vacation for his brood of four boys and four girls (all but one are adopted), whose ages range from 4 to 16.īeing a dedicated single parent doesn't exactly jibe with the pimpin' lifestyle, but Williams still brings an edgy mojo to the stage. Houston marks the homestretch of Williams' 100-plus-city It's Pimpin' Pimpin' comedy tour that has packed concert halls across the country since January, including four sold-old nights at Radio City Music Hall.


The pimp-acolytes will get to see their club-loving, high-life-living guru perform Saturday night at the Toyota Center. Williams adds that his flock already knows this. "Pimps can shine and make things happen regardless of what the circumstances are, what the scenarios are."
